I bet you’ve heard this before: I swear to God I did or didn’t… How about: I solemnly swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth…so help me God. Hilary tells me of this one from her youth: truth that God loves? (simply saying, are you telling the God’s honest truth?) Keeping one’s word and being perceived and seen as an honest and truthful person has been a virtue that mankind has valued throughout every age; yet for the most part, a truthful and honest character has been a rare commodity since the Garden of Eden. Everyday people throughout the world are required or coaxed in to making statements that are interpreted and taken as vows or promises, of which the individual making the vow is expected to keep or make good his or her promise. When an individual fulfills or makes true his/her promises, they typically earn the respect of others. When an individual fails to fulfill their promises or vows, they typically lose the respect of others and they must then work extra hard to regain that lost trust. Yet, in most cases, lying, not fulfilling a vow, misspeaking, neglecting to make good on one’s promises; all have little to no associated consequences in our modern society. As disappointing as it may be to most, our society has gotten use to people not keeping their word or worse, making frivilous promises and vows that they have no intention of ever keeping. There is more to this whole thing about keeping one’s word and being truthful and honest. It really comes down to a question about one’s name. What do I mean by this? Well, it goes without saying that the greatest thing a human can own is not material possessions or even good health. As awesome and wonderful as material possessions and good health are to possess, there would seem to be a greater possession that one should seek after, obtain, maintain and cherish over any other: and that is a good name. Now some of you may scoff at this and I’m okay with that. But just bear with me a bit on this. I’m not talking about your legal name, although you really can’t separate your legal name from your good (or even bad name). People know us by our legal and sometimes nick names. However, when our legal or nick names are attached to certain charater traits such as honesty, truthfulness, caring, compassion, generosity, holiness, etc., that one enjoys favors with those within his/her sphere of influence. He/she is respected in their community and in some cases, throughout a region or even the world. Equally so, when one’s name is attached to evil such as lies, mistrust, dishonesty, meanness, viciousnous, and the like, the respect that is garnered is of a negative bent. These individuals are typically villainized and not trusted. Yet our world finds itself in a drought; a drought of individuals holding good names. It’s quite frustrating indeed, especially when our world is filled with sin and evil. Consider our so-called leaders in government: the overwhelming number of them are politicians through-and-through and they will tell you a lie and make promises they have no intention of ever keeping. Yet our nation has come to expect this and will even elevate these individuals to rock-star status while granting them life-time jobs as leaders in our society. In other words, in that arena, we’ve set our expectations extremely low, have we not? What about the world of business and corporations: how many businesses and corporations have lied and done their customers wrong, all for the purposes of gaining more revenue. How many people have lost their hard-earned moneys to company executives that have no conscience? What about companies that have ensured that their products were safe, all the while knowing there products posed their customers danger, resutling in the injuries and even deaths of their customers. Then there are of course the rest of us, who must contend with the dishonesty and ruthlessness of certain elements of our society that don’t even blink when they are trying to perpetrate a fraud on us, outright steal our property or even do us harm. Indeed, a good name is hard to come by these days. What is more troubling than anything, however, are those who call themselves believers (be they of Jesus Christ or Yeshua HaMaschiach) who by their inherent sinful nature are prone to not keeping for themselves a good name? Of any souls upon this planet, believers are expected to know better wouldn’t you think? I tell you: some of the worse people on the planet who are quick to lie, cheat, steal, and everything in between are believers. Conversely, the individuals who can hurt us the most in life are those who call themselves believers. How many so-called believers throughout history have done their communities and worse their fellow believers wrong by not holding fast to the commandment of our Master?
33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself (do no break an oath; do no swear falsely), but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths (keep your vows to Adonai; fulfill your vows to the Lord): 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay (let what you say be a simple Yes and your No a simple No): for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. (Mat 5:33-37 KJV)
Yeshua, in verse 33 was referring to the following passages of Torah–
Exodus 20:7 You are not to use lightly the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished soneone who uses His name lightly. Lev 19:12 And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. Num 30:2 “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. Deu 23:21 “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the LORD your God will surely require it of you.
Yehovah’s Torah provides direction to us in terms of the making and keeping of vows. It’s super-easy to understand and follow: if you promise to do something, by all means make sure you do it and do it promptly as described in Deu 23:23–but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed to ADONAI your God, what you promised in words spoken aloud. Interestingly, Yehovah provided for the use of His name when making vows as discussed in Deuteronomy 6:13–Jehovah thy God thou dost fear, and Him thou dost serve, and by His name thou dost swear. Thus, swearing by the name of Yehovah holds tremendous relevance and reverence. Typically, when an issue comes down to one swearing upon the name of Yehovah, that issue is a big deal. Any believer with common sense should know that one must not go around swearing here and there on things and using the name of the Father in a frivilous manner. Indeed, the importance of the matter is sealed with the attaching of the name of the Creator to it. Such important issues would be treaties and covenants with other nations. No other name must ever be used to swear upon, even when dealing with the peoples of other nations and their gods. What this directive does is that it highlights the insurpassable name of Yehovah in the working of the affairs of men here upon this planet. In context, this verse of the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy was given just as the Children of Israel were preparing to enter and possess the promised land. The name of Yehovah was to be extolled above any names and above all the names of the other nations’ gods. The next verse of that chapter, verse 14, brings to full the point of verse 13: You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you…and the next verse talks about the jelousy of Yehovah in terms of Him being supplanted by these other gods–be it by worship or be it by swearing a vow. Even though Yehovah made provision in that men could use His name to make vows, Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11 makes it clear that one must not simply throw around the holy name of the Creator in the spirit of making vows and swearing. Mankind has a tendency of taking something holy and quite serious and over time tarnishing that very thing. Certainly, the use of the name of Yehovah to swear a vow would over time lead to a misuse of the sacred name of the Father. It’s to be expected and via the infinite wisdom and omniscience of Yehovah, He sought to make sure that He nipped this in the bud before the diluting of His name got too far out of hand. Interestingly, the use of the name of the Father was used in day-to-day transactions during the periods of the Tanakh and the Brit Hadashah throughout many regions of the middle east. It was an exceptable and even expected thing to do. In terms of the nation of israel, swearing a vow in the name of Yehovah was as Hebraic as law suites and cell phones are to Americans today. But again, the concern was the diminishing of the name of Yehovah for benign vows, more so, those vows that stood a great chance of never being fulfilled or that were meaningless and pointless in the first place. Thus Yeshua, who came to make full the Torah, simply said: Look, just don’t swear at all–Matthew 5: 33, 34. Instead of swearing, why not just be honest and straight forward with others and let your yes be yes and your no be no. One then does not need to place the name of our Father in the middle of frivilous issues that can easily go sideways and thus diminsih and tarnish the name of our God. Many times when we make promises or vows, there are mitigating factors that enter the equation and thus prevent us from ever fulfilling the original promise. When that happens, not only have we misused the name of the Father, but we’ve also damaged our reputations. It’s simply better to be straight forward and a man or woman of our word. This goes a long way towards supporting who we are as believers of Messiah, as we are held to the highest of highest standards as Torah Observing Believers in Messiah. Even James, the Brother of our Lord directed, “…stop swearing oaths…let your “Yes” be simply “Yes” and your “No” simply “No,” so that you won’t fall under condemnation” (James 5:12). Consequently, there are denominational organizations out there that require their members to never swear, above all, never to swear using the name of God. The billion dollar question is: if God is not the name of the Father (for we know that God is a title), can one really use His name in vain? I’ve grappled with this question, especially having come out of denominational churchianity and during those years never knowing the true name of God. I remember growing up and being told never to use the name of God in vain. Years later I came into contact with other denominations that required that you not swear at all. I believe there are organizations that do not allow their members to even swear under oath in a court of law because it is believed by those denominations that by doing so, they are using the name of the Creator in vain. Well, knowing a lot more than I did back then, I’ve come to understand that those denominations’ directives to their members is foolish and to some degree go against the Torah provision which permits one to do so. I get that the leaders of these denominations are resting their edicts upon the passages found in Matthew, James and other books that encourage believers to avoid making vows in the first place. However, being Torah observing people of the Most High, we have the privelege of swearing vows by the name of Yehovah. Is it wise to engage in this activity as a common practice? Absolutely not. But if one finds him or herself in a situation whereby they are compelled to swear an oath, we can rest in the assurance that the Father does allow us to do so with His blessing. Not only will the one who makes and fulfills the vow shore up his or her reputation, the name of Yehovah will be magnified in the midst of the involved parties. But back to the central question: can one who does not know or utilize the true name of Yehovah take the name of the Father in vain? Further more, if one were to swear a vow using “God” as the name of the Father, should he or she be held responsible for fulfilling that vow? I believe the answer to these questions is: it depends. Is the individual in question making such a vow using God as the name of the Father making their vow in good faith, fully intending to fulfill the tenets of the vow? Further more, does that individual understand what they are saying when they make a vow using “God” as the name of Yehovah? Whether or not we know the true name of the Father, which is Yehovah (or for some, Yahweh), we have been instructed by the Master to do the right thing each and every time and to not look for excuses as to why we couldn’t fulfill our vows. Our yes must be yes and our no must be no. Plain and simple. Whether we use the name of Yehovah in vain when we make frivilous vows and not fulfill them using God in the place of the Father’s name, I believe, is a heart thing. Where is our heart in all of this swearing the vow? If our heart is evil with intentions of not keeping the vow, then we have only proceeded to diminish our standing before men and above all before Yehovah. If our hearts are pure and just and we make such vows using God instead of Yehovah, we can be assured that Yehovah knows about whom we are referring. In closing, part of being true believers in Messiah is to be honest and forthright in our dealings with our fellow man. In doing so, we will not have to resort to making vows using the name of Yehovah. Certainly, if we do use the name of Yehovah, we have the opportunity of magnifying His name above every name when we fulfill that vow. It is so easy for us to act as the rest of the world acts whereby we make certain promises and then renig or neglect to fulfill those promises. The world at large doesn’t villainize us too much when we falter in our promises. So we are quick to make promises and even swear vows when we really don’t have to. Regardless, it is Yehovah whom we let down when we don’t keep our word. We have been called to a higher standard and if we are to live the abundant life; if we are to be numbered among those who are known as Kingdom kids; if we are to conform to the very image of our Master Yeshua HaMaschiach, we have to man up and woman up and ensure that our yes’ are yes’ and our no’s are no’s, even if it takes a pound of flesh to fulfill that vow. We must from this day forward do what we have vowed to do, especially when and if the vow was made in the name of Yehovah. We trust and pray that you’ve gotten something out of this Torah Living episode. If you have, we ask you to pay it forward and refer this program to other believers in Messiah. We ask that you subscribe to this podcast either via Stitcher or iTunes. We’ve made it super easy for you to subscribe to either of these podcast platforms simply by clicking on the appropriate icon to the right side of our webpage at themessianictorahobserver.org. From there, simply follow the prompts. 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